January 25, 2009

On Friday night I went to see French singer Camille play at the City Recital Hall.. she was pretty amazing. Two beat boxers (i think that’s what you call them!), two body percussionists, a piano player and two singers were the “band”, and it sounded great. Camille had seemingly inexhaustible energy. She was like a dancer at certain points, performance artist at others. She sang wholeheartedly and did some body percussion and beat boxing (?) as well. She also had a great sense of humour, although I couldn’t quite follow her all the way with ‘The Money Note”.. but, apart from that, it was good stuff. It was an inventive and inspiring thing to see before you head off on a plane to go and make a new album.

So, on Saturday night that’s just what I did. I write this from London airport before I make my connection to Stockholm to start work on my album: 9am Monday morning! So, the plane food has been OK so far and I’ve seen a couple of movies.. ‘brideshead revisited’ (7.5/10), ‘how to lose friends and alienate people’ (5/10), ‘man on wire’ (7.5/10) and ‘miss pettigrew lives for a day” (6/10)… and i even got some sleep! Even though that’s all fascinating stuff, I’ll be sure to let you know when something musical happens..

Here’s a photo of me at the airport. You’ll notice I have a record #3 haircut.. I think I look a bit like I’m 5 and it’s my first day of school. (My Dad did send me off after all). Well, that was the look I was going for.

January 13, 2009

The news is that I’m to record my third album in Stockholm, Sweden. I’m getting my snow boots ready to head there at the end of January to begin work. So, here’s the info:

Where? Stockholm, Sweden. I’ll be recording in a couple of studios. One of them is the legendary Atlantis Studios…. The other is a studio called Decibel.

Who? The album will be produced by Bjorn Yttling. He’s the Bjorn part of the band Peter, Bjorn & John and he’s worked with lots of great people including Lykke Li, Anna Ternheim, Camera Obscura & Taken By Trees.

When? I leave for Stockholm on the 24th January to begin the adventure, although for the first couple of weeks I’ll be doing lots of rehearsing with musicians and finishing songs. I’ll be there right through until March.. so hopefully the album will be ready mid-year. Fingers crossed..

How? Well, that’s why I decided to start this blog. To kinda show you how it all happens. So this is the stay tuned part..

January 6, 2009

Well, here I am.. I’ve entered the blog world. I never thought I’d see the day! But, I thought it would be a good way to let everyone know about what I’m up to over the next few months. Lots of news to come… In the meantime, here are some photos from my recent touring in Europe supporting Giant Sand.